Is NT Live ruining live theatre?

Devoted and Disgruntled Archivist

Lots of points were raised and challenged including conversations around celebrity culture and wanting to see famous people in theatre. Some felt that NT live was a very safe idea of what theatre was/is/could be and that the audience were likely to be people who didn’t particularly want to be challenged or provoked by what they saw. Others felt that getting people through their doors who might not otherwise come to see theatre could only be a good thing. One venue programmer spoke of the value of the ticket price versus the cost of seeing the show live and associated travel costs to London. The quality of NT live was also mentioned – both the actual production and the filming. A question was posed as to whether the audience for NT live translated into audience for live theatre – the twittersphere was consulted for data ….. waiting for responses……

Other points explored/discussed were around:

• Whether or not the slots ‘taken’ by NT live meant that less live theatre was programmed – and what this meant for regional theatres and performers

• A cultural shift in where people felt they belonged – more comfortable in a cinema audience?

• Theatre still perceived as ‘elite’ – an expectation of having to dress or behave in a certain way

• NT live doesn’t replace the liveness of live theatre

• Live theatre is transient, having it filmed could be a good way of retaining it/seeing it again

• Having to embrace the digital age

• The more you can offer your audience ,the better And finally – perhaps seeing an NT live production or other film of a live show might actually persuade you to see it live! Thank you to all who joined the group – it was a really engaging and enlightening discussion.

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We live now in information - it is our environment. An aspect of what we can do in response to current events is the information we have about what's actually going on. Perhaps if we can clean up the information environment we will make better decisions about what to do next.

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As a female arts sector leader (Festival Director - therefore a programmer, fundraiser, commissioner, debater, network lead/contributor, ambassador, etc), I felt it was important to ask what people wanted or needed from me, as someone who has a voice -in certain spaces- to offer. I was trying to buck the assumption that I would already know what women wanted from their peers and lead

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